It has been known for many years to package cigarettes and other types of tobacco or smoking article products in thin sheet metal packages or boxes of a size suitable for-carrying in a shirt or coat pocket. Such packages have been known as “tobacco tins” or “pocket tins” or “tobacco cans.” Typically, such cans or tins have a hinged top lid which is pivoted open to allow access to the can contents, or a sliding top lid which is slid along guides to one side or the other to allow access to the can contents, or a pressed-on top lid that is urged upwardly to remove it from the top of the can. A few examples of such known tobacco cans are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,341,295; 1,797,419; and 1,946,845. It is known that such metal cans or tins are better able to preserve the freshness of cigarettes and other tobacco products contained therein.
In recent years, manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products have packaged cigarettes in paper and paperboard wrappers and boxes and have used foil/paper laminates, metallized paper or plastic wrappers or low permeability transparent or metallized polymeric sheet overwraps, among other types of packaging, to preserve the freshness and aroma of the packaged cigarette and tobacco products. Examples of such packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,852,734; 5,139,140; and 5,542,529 assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Such packaging has become commonplace for most cigarette manufacturers so that, apart from strong brand names and trademarks, product packaging itself has not provided the sort of product differentiation in the marketplace for cigarettes that it has for other consumer products, many of which utilize unique forms of packaging for product differentiation or product origin purposes. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a cigarette package and a packaging method that would improve product differentiation of cigarettes in the marketplace and still achieve appropriate preservation of the freshness and aroma of the cigarettes.
While it is desirable to have a sliding front lid, it is also useful for the consumer to have a mechanism that prevents such a lid from being completely removed from the tin. Such mechanisms have been complicated and costly to manufacture, in comparison to the overall manufacturing costs of the tin. Furthermore, such mechanisms still allow the tin to be completely open, making the contents of the tin susceptible to spilling during use of the device. Therefore, it is desirable to have a sliding shell tin with a mechanism that will allow the lid of the tin to slide only partially across the body of the tin, allowing the user to access only the contents of the tin which are desired for use.